Lecture 1: Introduction course and 3. Promote behavioral change
assignments - Behavioral measures: individual &
Communicating about risks community level
- Changing routines: convert it into
- Difficult; subjective
conscious actions
- Short-term vs long-terms effects;
- Intention-behavior gap: ‘knowing’
costs vs gains
is not the same as ‘doing’
| Fincet et al. 2020 |
Important recommendations
2020: COVID-19 pandemic rippled across
- Mental model: overview picture of
the world
how COVID-29 works
Drastic measures vs how effective health - Interventions: in the environment
communication can play a key role and through regulations, facilities
- Appeal to collective action: ‘we are
1. Unprecedented Mass information in this together’; leaders on all
flow levels (role models)
- In media - Maintain behavioral change:
- Need for ‘concise, accurate, and requires change in self-regulation
valid information’… ‘to public all (conscious planning in the
over the world’… ‘in different beginning: action self-efficacy),
contexts’ preservation by habit (maintenance
2. Dealing with insecurity and fear self-efficacy)
- Insecurity and fear (panic):
COVID-19 is contagious and
deadly
What is ‘risk’
- Invisible enemy
- Feeling loss of control over life = the likelihood that a specific event occurs
Important elements for communication - Chance that something happens *
the severity thereof
Open and honest about what is (un)known:
- Risk perception: different for
talk deform facts and recognize the
everybody
temporality thereof
- Subjective! And that is difficult to
Consistent and specific information: clear, estimate…
specific, non-ambiguous ‘layman’s
What is ‘health’
language’
WHO (1946): it is a state of complete
Decision making skills: ‘leadership,
physical, mental and social well-being and
reliable and honest, acknowledge the
not merely the absence of disease or
(visible) experts
infirmity (= refers to a ‘state’)
Acknowledge emotions: through empathic
More recently: the capacity of people to
information, expressing concern, and
adopt to, respond to, or control life’s
acknowledging impact
challenges and changes (= refers to a
‘dynamic process’)
, - Objective: health at the organic Primary prevention
level, determined by an expert
- Preventing (the development of)
- Subjective: health on the individual
illness
level, determined by the individual,
- ‘Prevention is better than cure’
perceived health
- E.g. use a condom, vaccination,
- Social: health on the social level,
wear seatbelt
determined by the social
environment, society Secondary prevention
- Early detection
- E.g. Tested for COVID-19, going
A case:
to the dentist, scan for breast cancer
(EXAMPLE OF EXAM QUESTION)
Tertiary prevention
Someone with a much too high Body Mass
Index hears from his doctor that he is - Limit severity / consequences of
obese. He feels bad because he can walk illness
poorly. Fortunately, he is completely - E.g. promoting adherence to
accepted by his environment and they help therapeutic programs; development
him out where possible exercise programs for obese people
Is he healthy?
Objective? Social marketing
Subjectively?
Socially? Risk- and health communication has a lot
in common with ‘marketing’
Social marketing:
Prevention levels
- Marketing behavior
Risk- and health communication is often - Target group specification
about ‘prevention’ - Connecting to behavior
(determinants)
- Avoid from happening
- Message factors
Three levels:
4p’s
- Primary prevention
- Product:
- Secondary prevention
Actual product: the
- Tertiary prevention
desired/recommended behavior
Communication message is different Core product: profit from that
behavior
- Level determines the message
- Price:
strategy / ‘social marketing’
Literally: the price of the product
approach
Figuratively: loss (of the behavior)
compared to the promised benefits
- Place
, Action outlests (where the
intervention takes place OR where
the behavior takes place)
- Promotion Predicting risk/health behavior
The most visible part of (social)
marketing - What are the factos tha make
Persuasive communication someone behave unhealthily?
strategies Changing risk/health behavior
Develop effective messages
- What should we say and how to
(intrinsically) motivate someone to
actually change unhealthy behavior
Persuasive communication and move into the desired
direction?
Millions of people die every year from (= persuasive communication)
preventable causes of death (WHO, 2004)
The relation between the two
Lifestyle: nowadays, illness are often the
result of one’s own (unhealthy) behavior,
such as smoking, unsafe sex, unhealthy
eating patterns, too little exercise (cf,
Stroebe, 2000)
‘Lifestyle diseases’ as a major cause of
death
An unhealthy lifestyle
- Why do people behave so
risky/unhealthy?
- Don’t people know that their
behavior is unhealthy?
- Or are unhealthy people just
stupid?
- Why don’t they just change?
Sometimes people don’t know…
- In that case, it is important to
inform people, for example in the
early days of AIDS, or give new
knowledge about an unhealthy diet
Often people know, but they do it
anyway…
- In that case, it is important to find
out WHY
- People often know the facts and try
to ignore or downplay them
(‘unrealistic optimism’)
, Lecture 2: Determinants of health | Conner, 2010 |
behavior – socio-cognitive models - Why important
- How different categories of models
Socio-cognitive predictors health behavior - Overview models
- Focus on thoughts and feelings that - Focus on motivational models, TPB
determine health behavior and underlying constructs
- Modifiable - Integrated model
- Many models, but a couple of key
variables Theory of Planned Behavior
Why are we interested in thoughts and
feelings?
- Other (important) predictors of
health behavior difficult to change
o Socio-demographic factors
(e.g. income)
o Biological factors / genes Intention
- Models are ‘tool’ to identify crucial
determinants of health behavior People’s motivation or decision to try to
o To develop a message perform a behavior
strategy ‘Next month I plan to eat more healthy’
o Who to target in a health
campaign? Attitude
Why important? Evaluation of the behavior
Motivational models ‘Eating more healthy the next month is…
bad/good, unfavorable/favorable’
- TPB, PMT, EPPM, HBM
- Influence cognitive variables on Subjective norm
intention formation What you think that most other think of the
- Motivational phase of self- behavior
regulation: setting a goal, form
intention to pursue a goal ‘Most people that are important to me
think it is important that I will eat more
Behavioral enactment and multi-stage healthy next month’
models
Perceived behavior control
- Implementation intentions, TTM
- Volitional phase of self-regulation: Perception that performing the behavior is
planning and action directed toward within your control and that you can do it
achieving the set goal ‘Whether I eat more healthy next month is
up to me’
assignments - Behavioral measures: individual &
Communicating about risks community level
- Changing routines: convert it into
- Difficult; subjective
conscious actions
- Short-term vs long-terms effects;
- Intention-behavior gap: ‘knowing’
costs vs gains
is not the same as ‘doing’
| Fincet et al. 2020 |
Important recommendations
2020: COVID-19 pandemic rippled across
- Mental model: overview picture of
the world
how COVID-29 works
Drastic measures vs how effective health - Interventions: in the environment
communication can play a key role and through regulations, facilities
- Appeal to collective action: ‘we are
1. Unprecedented Mass information in this together’; leaders on all
flow levels (role models)
- In media - Maintain behavioral change:
- Need for ‘concise, accurate, and requires change in self-regulation
valid information’… ‘to public all (conscious planning in the
over the world’… ‘in different beginning: action self-efficacy),
contexts’ preservation by habit (maintenance
2. Dealing with insecurity and fear self-efficacy)
- Insecurity and fear (panic):
COVID-19 is contagious and
deadly
What is ‘risk’
- Invisible enemy
- Feeling loss of control over life = the likelihood that a specific event occurs
Important elements for communication - Chance that something happens *
the severity thereof
Open and honest about what is (un)known:
- Risk perception: different for
talk deform facts and recognize the
everybody
temporality thereof
- Subjective! And that is difficult to
Consistent and specific information: clear, estimate…
specific, non-ambiguous ‘layman’s
What is ‘health’
language’
WHO (1946): it is a state of complete
Decision making skills: ‘leadership,
physical, mental and social well-being and
reliable and honest, acknowledge the
not merely the absence of disease or
(visible) experts
infirmity (= refers to a ‘state’)
Acknowledge emotions: through empathic
More recently: the capacity of people to
information, expressing concern, and
adopt to, respond to, or control life’s
acknowledging impact
challenges and changes (= refers to a
‘dynamic process’)
, - Objective: health at the organic Primary prevention
level, determined by an expert
- Preventing (the development of)
- Subjective: health on the individual
illness
level, determined by the individual,
- ‘Prevention is better than cure’
perceived health
- E.g. use a condom, vaccination,
- Social: health on the social level,
wear seatbelt
determined by the social
environment, society Secondary prevention
- Early detection
- E.g. Tested for COVID-19, going
A case:
to the dentist, scan for breast cancer
(EXAMPLE OF EXAM QUESTION)
Tertiary prevention
Someone with a much too high Body Mass
Index hears from his doctor that he is - Limit severity / consequences of
obese. He feels bad because he can walk illness
poorly. Fortunately, he is completely - E.g. promoting adherence to
accepted by his environment and they help therapeutic programs; development
him out where possible exercise programs for obese people
Is he healthy?
Objective? Social marketing
Subjectively?
Socially? Risk- and health communication has a lot
in common with ‘marketing’
Social marketing:
Prevention levels
- Marketing behavior
Risk- and health communication is often - Target group specification
about ‘prevention’ - Connecting to behavior
(determinants)
- Avoid from happening
- Message factors
Three levels:
4p’s
- Primary prevention
- Product:
- Secondary prevention
Actual product: the
- Tertiary prevention
desired/recommended behavior
Communication message is different Core product: profit from that
behavior
- Level determines the message
- Price:
strategy / ‘social marketing’
Literally: the price of the product
approach
Figuratively: loss (of the behavior)
compared to the promised benefits
- Place
, Action outlests (where the
intervention takes place OR where
the behavior takes place)
- Promotion Predicting risk/health behavior
The most visible part of (social)
marketing - What are the factos tha make
Persuasive communication someone behave unhealthily?
strategies Changing risk/health behavior
Develop effective messages
- What should we say and how to
(intrinsically) motivate someone to
actually change unhealthy behavior
Persuasive communication and move into the desired
direction?
Millions of people die every year from (= persuasive communication)
preventable causes of death (WHO, 2004)
The relation between the two
Lifestyle: nowadays, illness are often the
result of one’s own (unhealthy) behavior,
such as smoking, unsafe sex, unhealthy
eating patterns, too little exercise (cf,
Stroebe, 2000)
‘Lifestyle diseases’ as a major cause of
death
An unhealthy lifestyle
- Why do people behave so
risky/unhealthy?
- Don’t people know that their
behavior is unhealthy?
- Or are unhealthy people just
stupid?
- Why don’t they just change?
Sometimes people don’t know…
- In that case, it is important to
inform people, for example in the
early days of AIDS, or give new
knowledge about an unhealthy diet
Often people know, but they do it
anyway…
- In that case, it is important to find
out WHY
- People often know the facts and try
to ignore or downplay them
(‘unrealistic optimism’)
, Lecture 2: Determinants of health | Conner, 2010 |
behavior – socio-cognitive models - Why important
- How different categories of models
Socio-cognitive predictors health behavior - Overview models
- Focus on thoughts and feelings that - Focus on motivational models, TPB
determine health behavior and underlying constructs
- Modifiable - Integrated model
- Many models, but a couple of key
variables Theory of Planned Behavior
Why are we interested in thoughts and
feelings?
- Other (important) predictors of
health behavior difficult to change
o Socio-demographic factors
(e.g. income)
o Biological factors / genes Intention
- Models are ‘tool’ to identify crucial
determinants of health behavior People’s motivation or decision to try to
o To develop a message perform a behavior
strategy ‘Next month I plan to eat more healthy’
o Who to target in a health
campaign? Attitude
Why important? Evaluation of the behavior
Motivational models ‘Eating more healthy the next month is…
bad/good, unfavorable/favorable’
- TPB, PMT, EPPM, HBM
- Influence cognitive variables on Subjective norm
intention formation What you think that most other think of the
- Motivational phase of self- behavior
regulation: setting a goal, form
intention to pursue a goal ‘Most people that are important to me
think it is important that I will eat more
Behavioral enactment and multi-stage healthy next month’
models
Perceived behavior control
- Implementation intentions, TTM
- Volitional phase of self-regulation: Perception that performing the behavior is
planning and action directed toward within your control and that you can do it
achieving the set goal ‘Whether I eat more healthy next month is
up to me’
